THE FRAGMENTED THRONE and LEGACY of TIPU SULTAN

 Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection 

 

THE FRAGMENTED THRONE

and

LEGACY

of

TIPU SULTAN

Al Thani Collection

Hassan Al Thani is a Qatari art collector and between him and his family members there is a large art collection showcased in various museums and gallerias internationally.

Recently closed, there was an exhibition of his collections at the Met, titled Treasures from India. It caught my attention as it contained the finial, the top portion, of the throne of Tipu Sultan.
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/treasures-from-india

There were supposedly eight of them, the throne was broken in order to share the spoils of war. One is in Windsor Castle. This one was found in a Scottish home, and auctioned a few years back.

Another of his collection was a magic box.



Not really clear what was the purpose of it, but divided in twenty equilateral triangles, all have an Arabic number on them, supposedly to solve some arithmetic problem.

We have been fascinated by Tipu Sultan, and while growing up, he is one of the few undisputed heroes we read of. He is the one credited with the quote that one day of tiger's live is better than hundred years of a jackal.

We were raised with superhuman image of Tipu Sultan, who would have defeated East India Company had it not been the conspiracies of fellow Muslims, the Nizams of Deccan and his own vizir Mir Sadiq, who betrayed by pulling troops during the Siege of Sirangapatam to collect their salaries.

Reading up on him make me realize that he was perhaps the only one who defeated the English more than once. He was smart, clever and had reached out to Afghanistan, Constantinople and Napoleon to find an alliance against the British.  He may even be credited with the first one using rockets in warfare.
 
Although many Muslims rulers of India who fought and were defeated or killed by the East India Company like, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Sirajud Dula and likes occupy a hero's status in India, Tipu Sultan does not.

And the reason is not that complementary. There are many accounts of his intolerance and savagery to non Muslims. Granted most of the accounts are by English and Hindus and have their biases but his own writings in letters to others do not help either. He seems to be very clear in his goal to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. His proclamations are clearly laced with concepts of religious war against the infidels. He is fighting with Marhattas as much as he is fighting the East India Company.

By some accounts, he had destroyed multiple Churches and Temples, and forcibly converted Christians and Hindus to Islam. And by forcible conversion I mean forcible circumcision.

 We were also told as kids the the English were smart enough to make sure that there is no more Tipu and thus had taken his sons to England and were completely brainwashed. I could not see any reference to that. There was a revolt ie the Vellore Mutiny in 1806 where the family members and other prisoners revolted and were mercilessly crushed. Perhaps most of the surviving family lives in Calcutta and rest scattered all over the world.

Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan, father of the Noor Inayat Khan, who was portrayed in the World Unit Production movie Enemy of the Reich, was grandson of a granddaughter of Tipu Sultan.

Well that is what it is. History is always a mixed bag. He was one who chose to die with sword in his hand rather than running away to fight for another day.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasirgondal/sets/72157650282810866/

The Buddha's of Silla

SILLA

SHIFTING OF EMPHASIS

FROM AFTERLIFE TO HERE AND NOW

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/08/arts/SILLA1_SPAN/SILLA1-articleLarge.jpg


Last week on our way upstate we stopped at Met for short while. There was a special exhibition on Silla. There had been much advertisement about it to generated interest. I was ambivalent about it in the beginning. Some old history of ancient Korea. Anyhow, I am glad we were there.

There is a good review in yesterday's New York Times. Here are my own impressions. 

This is the story of a place called Silla (pronounced Shilla). Some of the nomads in ancient Korea settled down and over a period of time settled in the south of peninsula. It eventually formed an empire which for a period of time occupied the greater part of Korea and present day North China. It is one of the longest running dynasties of the world, ruled for almost a millennium i.e, 57 BCE to 935 CE.

The exhibition has a few sections. and it starts with the tombs of its kings. Discovered in last century, they were buried under huge heaps of dirt and looked like small mountains from the outside. In a way completely merged with the environment. 

Once excavated, one sees the earlier kings to have majestic tombs. with a lot of worldly wealth and paraphernalia of goods, gold and jars, which may be needed for the afterlife. Here one sees articles from all over the world, The silk road, which spanned almost four thousand miles, from Italy through Central Asia, actually ends in Korea. This was unknown to me. Here you see a Roman glass vase to an Afghani dagger. It is a kind of museum of fifth-sixth century all in one tomb of the kings. 

Interesting to me was the gradual transformation of the contents of the tombs with the arrival of Buddhism in sixth century and its adoption by the kings. Now you see smaller tombs as the emphasis on after life was reduced and focus turned on the life of the living. At sometime the cremation replaced burial as the preferred way to go. Now the gold and the art was invested more and more for the living. This naturally turned into more artwork in the form of statues and  resemblances of Buddha.

Three Buddhas are worth seeing if you ever have a chance to see them. One is the bronze Bodhisattva in pensive pose. (see above). A thin Bodhisattva, a later reincarnation of the Buddha sitting on a pedestal, right foot resting on the left thigh, right hand holding the face, looks like he is nodding his head and the fingers are about to touch the cheek. Thinking deeply and perhaps pensively, he does not seem to be stationary. This is supposedly one of the highest treasured possession of the National Museum of Korea, National Treasure 83. Really a treat to watch. 

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/koreas-golden-kingdom/about-the-exhibition/~/media/Images/Exhibitions/2013/Silla/sillabuddhism3.ashx

The second is the small, all gold Amitaba Buddha. It is a delicate piece of art. Here Buddha is rather plump, considered a celestial Buddha, probably in his our recreated paradise. where environment is right to pursue enlightenment.

The biggest prize is the larger than life Buddha, made of cast iron, sitting in a lotus chokri position. His hands are gone, but the description is that the left hand sits in the lap with palm up denoting meditation. The right hand is supposedly touching the earth. That is the position, the audio guide explains, first seen in Pakistan. The legend goes that while the Buddha was mediating, evil forces tried to distract him. While sitting still he just touched the earth with his right hand and the evil forces vanished away. A connection with the earth, was instrumental in getting rid of all worldly distractions, sifli jazbaat.

Take home for me was the re-realization of Buddha and his teachings: focus on this life, an attempt and quest to seek light and truth in this world, least-to-no emphasis on the after life, and strength to field away distractions, worldly or otherwise. 

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References:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/arts/design/silla-koreas-golden-kingdom-at-the-metropolitan-museum.html?_r=0
• http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/koreas-golden-kingdom/about-the-exhibition/treasures
• http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/koreas-golden-kingdom/about-the-exhibition/buddhism
• http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2973486